Everton demand Diouf retracts racism claims

Everton have urged Blackburn striker El-Hadji Diouf to apologise and retract his claim he was subjected to racist abuse at Goodison Park on Sunday.

Diouf is under investigation by Merseyside Police for alleged racist abuse of a 14-year-old ball boy during Rovers’ 3-0 defeat.

Police are not investigating Diouf’s claims of racism

Diouf told police after the game bananas were thrown at him from the Everton crowd. Officers scoured the area next to the pitch and in the stands but no bananas were found and no pictures have surfaced to back up the player’s claim.

And Everton spokesman Ian Ross has insisted Diouf’s claims were not true.

‘That is a wholly false allegation and I really would like him to retract that and apologise to the supporters and staff of this football club,’ he said.

‘I don’t think there’s a worse allegation in modern sport than racism and it works both ways. From my perspective, it looks like Mr Diouf is accusing Everton fans of racist behaviour.

‘The police will tell you that is completely untrue and in such circumstances we’d expect him to apologise and retract his allegations – because they are completely groundless.

‘We find them offensive and a lot of our supporters have been in touch to say that they find them offensive.’

Ross stressed Everton would have acted on the claims if they had found any supportive evidence.

‘We moved very quickly and had the allegation held any water at all, we would have said so,’ he added.